Learning and the Brain

by Mickey Wircenski
CTE Project Director

Educators and neuroscientists recently met at the 28^th Learning & the Brain conference.  The topic for the conference was iGeneration: How the Digital Age is altering Student Brains, Learning & Teaching.  “Whether we like it or not, our students’ time and attention is increasingly being consumed by what appears on a screen in front of them.  For today’s students-an iGeneration of digital natives-as well as many adults, what unfolds on the screen is as gripping and as meaningful as anything that happens in one’s real life” (Kenneth, Kosik, MD, Co-Director, Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara). 

The sessions at the conference were all focused on preparing the iGeneration for the global community of the future.  One particularly pertinent session for those of us in Career and Technical Education was entitled Learning, Leading, and Teaching in the 21^st Century.  The speaker, Dr. Tony Wagner, is an Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard University.  Dr. Wagner made the following points:

1.   The global Achievement Gap is the gap between what even our best schools are teaching and testing versus the skills all students will need for careers, college, and citizenship in the 21^st century.

2.   The Seven Survival Skills for careers, college and citizenship will be:

a.       Critical thinking and problem-solving

b.      Collaboration across networks and leading by influence

c.       Agility and adaptability

d.      Initiative and entrepreneurialism

e.      Effective oral and written communication

f.        Accessing and analyzing information

g.       Curiosity and imagination.

In order to reach this next generation of students and fully prepare students for the future educators must move from an information-based learning system to a transformation-based learning system.  The differences between these two systems is evident in the following:

Information-Based Learning System	Transformation-Based Learning System
Focus on “timeless learning” (academic content that has stood the “test of time”)	Focus on using content to master the competencies of “just-in-time” learning
Rigor is content mastery (getting more right answers)	Rigor is figuring out the right question/problem to be solved
Studying existing content by disciplines	Exploring questions and new problems with and across disciplines
Learners working alone and in competition Motivated mainly be extrinsic rewards (grades)	Learners working in teams Motivated more by intrinsic rewards (pride in mastery, contributing)
Taught by isolated content experts through memorization/recall	Taught by teamed coaches through inquiry, exploration/discovery-hands on
Accessed mainly by multiple choice, computer scored tests	Assessed through auditing strategies, digital portfolios, and exhibitions of mastery (merit badges)
Prepares learners for a “world of the past”	Prepares learners for a “world of the future”

For more information on this topic:

1.  www.changeleadershipgroup.org

2.  LearningAndTheBrain.com

3.  The Global Achievement Gap (Tony Wagner)

4.  Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools (Tony Wagner, Robert Kegan, Lisa Laskow Lahey and Richard Lemons)     

A Blue Ribbon Community Effort

by Nancy Gorman
CTE Web Site Content Editor

A Personal Commentary:

We read in the papers and internet columns, and hear on the radio and news programs, that the cutbacks in the education systems are going to be disruptive to the way we have things going now.  Most of us will rue these reductions in personnel, programs, athletics, after-school groups, etc.  This cannot be helped, in this day and age.

But….I think there is a way our students’ parents/guardians/relatives can “give back” some support to the classroom situation.  Let me tell you about a way in which I helped my daughter “give back” some requested (maybe required) time to her children’s classroom. This was just a few years ago.

Littleton, CO; blue ribbon school; elementary level.  Each parent was (I think) required to give one hour of  “assistance” to the classroom/teacher during the school year.  Maybe reading a special story, helping with a graphic arts program, helping individual students with some math problems, accompanying the class to the library for a special reading.  This is classroom work, not monitoring children on the playground or lunchroom or gym class, specifically.

So this is my story:  My twin grandsons were in first grade, with the “best” teacher, Mrs. Miller.  I was visiting my daughter for a few days.  She said, “Mom, is there any way you could go to the school and contribute my hour on my behalf- - - er, since you were an elementary school teacher?”  It didn’t take me long to say, “Yes, I can do that.”   So the next day I went to the school and processed myself into the classroom, first grade, with Mrs. Miller suggesting I read a book to the whole group, sitting on the floor in front of me.  It was fun, we all laughed, the students/children asked questions, and offered their comments.  BINGO!   Then the class got to their seats and began working on, I think it was math, or science.  It didn’t matter – I wanted to stay!  So Mrs. Miller said, certainly.  In fact, I stayed through the lunch hour into the afternoon, just doing whatever the class was working on, and I was able to help Mrs. Miller a great deal.  Was I pleased, or what!   My grandsons said I was “cool” so that made everything perfect.

Here’s my point:  if each parental unit could contribute an hour of service to each of their student’s classrooms during one year, that could help the school teacher/system in place of the paid aides, specialists, etc.  A side advantage: this is a nice way to become better acquainted with your children’s classmates.  This builds an additional advantage for your children in a casual, positive way.

Give this some thought.  Talk to your school administrators.  See if this could be a “Blue Ribbon Community Effort”  in your school.

BTW:  I would appreciate any replies.  ngorman@yahoo.com